Now, Colin and I usually have a friendly rule about Christmas
tunes and tinsel. Given that his birthday is November 30th, we made a pact to
start Christmas on the 1st of December. And not until said date, would we make
with the trimmings and the ringings and the donnings.
This year however, I knew that I would not have a decorating day as in years past. There
would be no circling the 1st or 3rd or even the 10th and claiming it as day to decorate, day of decor, deck the
halls day.
I decided, with my husband’s blessing (have I waxed poetic about
this man lately?), to festoon our home one surface at a time, one day at a
time. I did the mantle for an hour on a Monday, the table for a half hour on a
Tuesday, the stairs garland for twenty minutes on Wednesday ... you get the
picture.
And now, as I write this, our home is done. It’s early, yes, even
too early for me. But it sure is lovely. And it’s so nice to come home after a
long day with nary a twinkle in your eye, to find your entire home twinkling
for you. 
I have also been signing ten or twenty Christmas cards a night so
that I will not find myself two weeks from now screeching, “The CARDS, I’ve got
to do the CARDS!”
So here I am, as a result of the Sanity Clause, able to focus on
Mom’s transition home instead of fretting about surfaces un-festooned.
Usually I am 80% finished with my Christmas shopping by now, but
this year I am 2% done. However, the beauty is that when December hits, I will
leave my perfectly decorated home each day and hit the stores. And I will
employ the Sanity Clause once more by doing my shopping just one hour a day.
This will grant me the grace and patience with my parents I might otherwise be
lacking, if I was feeling overwhelmed. It will also give me the gift of
enjoying the hell out of buying the gifts. Or as it’s known in Section Four,
Article Two of the Clause: Gift Squared.
And when Christmas parties start to lift their lively toasts, my
glass will be raised among the reveling throngs and I will be thinking, “I’m
having fun. I’m feeling festive. Peace on Deb”.
Yep, that’s what I am giving myself this Christmas. Peace. And
the best part? It’s free.
To borrow from The Trouble
with Angels’ Mary Clancy, the Sanity Claus has been “my most
scathingly brilliant idea ever!”
Barbara: Let it be said here that Deb has Christmas times 10
compared to me. She has literally 10 times the family (and probably friends!),
and 10 times the familial obligations, buying gifts on behalf of many members
of her family as well as her own. I’m telling you this because I want you to
know just how much work she faces each holiday season. Enough to stress the
catatonic. And yet, she welcomes and celebrates the festivities better than any
little elf I know.
I, on the other hand, have noticed how much less stressed I am
this year thanks to 2 rather significant reasons: 1) my kids are big (and home)
enough to help, and 2) with age comes experience. I have nailed the holiday season
down to a ritual I can almost—not quite, but almost—do with my eyes closed.
That said, I also think Deb’s idea is genius: one detail at a time, steady as
she goes!
